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  • Break it down: Dancers begin charting path to Paris Olympics

    Break it down: Dancers begin charting path to Paris Olympics

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    NEW YORK — Breaking is in Victor Montalvo’s blood. He is a descendant of twin breakers — his father and uncle — who were performing in Mexico long before they taught a young Montalvo to spin on his back.

    Born in Kissimmee, Florida, the 28-year-old who also goes by B-Boy Victor has mastered the foundations of the dance form. He has power. He has the flavor and swagger expected of a diehard b-boy. His movement syncs with the breakbeat flowing from the DJ’s turntables.

    Scribble, chirp, rip, boom, blip.

    He hopes to take breaking further than his relatives ever dreamt, to battle his way to a medal ceremony, when the now-global dance art debuts at the Olympic Summer Games less than two years from now.

    “I feel like I have a really high chance,” Montalvo told The Associated Press.

    He is among dozens of champion b-boys and b-girls — a term for a male or female entrenched in the culture of hip hop — who are charting a path to the 2024 Games in Paris. The International Olympic Committee announced two years ago that breaking would become an official Olympic sport, a development that divided the breaking community between those excited for the larger platform and those concerned about the art form’s purity.

    But after the Red Bull BC One World Final, held earlier this month in the birthplace of hip hop and a short distance from the very streets where Black and Puerto Rican New Yorkers pioneered the art of breaking, the field of Olympic competitors is starting to take shape. The Nov. 12 event also attracted some of the original b-boys and b-girls, as the hip hop community prepares to celebrate 50 years since the culture’s founding in 1973.

    “You never thought that something you were doing for fun was going to go around the world,” said Douglas “Dancin’ Doug” Colón, a b-boy of the first generation of breakers from Harlem who beamed with pride over the dance form’s acceptance into the Olympics.

    Along with Colón, first generation b-boy Trixie sat near a circular stage in the center of Manhattan’s Hammerstein Ballroom. One by one, Red Bull BC One World Final competitors from Canada, China, France, Italy, Kazakhstan, South Korea and Venezuela took to the battle stage. The energy drink beverage company runs the world’s largest breaking competition.

    The OGs offered blessings to their descendants by giving them dap — a friendly gesture of greeting in the Black and Latino communities that communicates solidarity and well wishes to the recipient. Joe Conzo, Jr, a photographer known in the community as “Joey Snapz,” who documented hip hop in the Bronx from its infancy, also sat stageside taking pictures of the Olympic hopefuls.

    “Nothing’s going to change the culture, the culture stays the same,” Colón said. “Even though it’s now an Olympic sport, people back in the hood will still be doing their thing.”

    Victor Alicea, a Red Bull BC One World Final judge, told the AP that judging competitions within the hip hop culture has always been very subjective. But that won’t be the case with the Paris Olympics, where officials will use a newly developed judging system to decide which b-boy or b-girl bested their opponent in one-on-one battles.

    The Trivium judging system, created for the debut of breaking at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, is a digital scoring platform that allows judges to react in real time to breakers’ physical, artistic and interpretative qualities or their “body, mind and soul.” A panel of five judges scores each breaker on creativity, personality, technique, variety, performativity and musicality. The scores can adjust throughout the battle, based on how a breaker responds to their opponent.

    Scores can be lowered if a breaker “bites,” or copies, a set of moves from their opponent. Misbehavior, such as deliberate physical contact with an opponent, and other unsportsmanlike conduct can also lower a breaker’s score.

    “I look for someone that takes over the floor. It’s a battle. It’s not just you dance and then I dance. You’ve got to bring it,” said Alicea, who is also known as B-boy Kid Glyde.

    Montalvo, who was ranked as the world’s top b-boy after a world championship competition in Paris last December, said his path to the Olympics will require intense training. It will also require more winning performances at competitions sanctioned by the World DanceSport Federation, an IOC-approved body administering the battles. Breakers who do well in those events score points that help them qualify for the Paris Games. Olympic qualifiers kick off in September and run through June 2024.

    At the end of the process, 16 b-boys and 16 b-girls will be allowed to compete over two days at the iconic Place de la Concorde, an outdoor public square in Paris.

    That gives Olympic hopefuls lots of opportunities to sharpen their skills for the high stakes battles.

    MEET THE CONTENDERS

    B-BOY VICTOR

    What sets Montalvo apart from other b-boys, he said, is his command of judge-favored foundations of breaking: “toprock” moves, footwork, “downrock” moves done closer to the floor, “power” moves showing acrobatics and strength, along with the classic “headspins,” “windmills” and “freeze” poses.

    “I feel like the foundations are the most important thing,” he said. “I see a lot of dancers doing big moves, but then they don’t have those small details. They don’t know how to get out of those big moves. It’s important to create a story, and the foundations are like creating a story.”

    B-BOY YU-KI

    During a Red Bull BC One quarterfinal round battle against Japan’s Yuki Minatozaki, Montalvo transitioned from a windmill into a downrock move in which his legs moved back and forth so quickly that they looked like turning Double Dutch ropes. Minatozaki responded with a smirk, half-hearted applause and sarcastic thumbs up — all in the spirit of good sportsmanship — before exploding into a headspin and showcasing energetic standing footwork.

    “It feels great that the sport now has a lot more eyeballs on it,” Minatozaki, who goes by B-boy Yu-Ki, told the AP through a translator. The 23-year-old has been breaking since the age of five. He intends to seek a spot in the Paris Games, he said.

    Minatozaki lost his battle against Montalvo, who also went on to the final to defeat Lee-Lou Demierre of the Netherlands, another likely Olympic contender. That victory did not earn Montalvo points toward qualifying for the Olympics.

    B-GIRL INDIA

    India Sardjoe, a 16-year-old breaker from the Netherlands, won the Red Bull BC One World Final b-girl title. She said she planned to focus next on competing in crew battles – this entails a team of breakers competing against another for a group title and bragging rights, reminiscent of breaking’s roots in the Bronx. Sardjoe was fresh off of claiming the top honor at the European Breaking Championships, a WDSF event held in Manchester, England on Nov. 6.

    The Red Bull title is an accomplishment, nonetheless.

    “I had to battle the defending champion, so that’s not nothing,” Sardjoe said. “But I was super happy to battle against her.”

    B-GIRL LOGISTX

    Sardjoe defeated 19-year-old Logan Edra, also known as B-girl Logistx, who won last year’s Red Bull BC One World Final in Gdansk, Poland. Hailing from San Diego, Edra began breaking at age eight, after first training in ballet and jazz. Her father nudged her into hip hop lessons.

    Like Sardjoe and Montalvo, Edra told the AP she will compete in WDSF events over the next year and half for a spot in the Olympics. On Saturday, she competed in the Breaking for Gold Challenge Series in Tokyo and took home a silver medal behind Lithuania’s Dominika Banevič, known as B-Girl Nicka, who won gold.

    “I’m competing against the best of the best,” Edra said. “Because I have such a high standard for myself, I try to out-train everybody. The training is crazy — I’ve got bruises on my elbows and my knees from practicing moves over and over. It’s a lot of commitment because we don’t have as many resources as other sports do.”

    B-GIRL ISIS

    Isis Alexandra Granda Chalen, a b-girl who grew up in Ecuador before moving to the U.S., started young in ballet, folk and contemporary dance. But breaking spoke to her rebellious nature, particularly at a time when she questioned if those other dance forms were aligned with her dreams.

    “The moment that I understood that I have more responsibility for myself, I put more work into breaking and I got the opportunities to be here,” Chalen, 27, said ahead of the Red Bull BC One World Final.

    “Now, we’re going to do this transition, from artists to athletes,” she said of her Olympic dreams. “It’s a big opportunity for every country. I came from Latin America, where there aren’t as many opportunities. But the Olympics are for everybody.”

    B-GIRL SUNNY

    Sunny Choi, a Queens, New York-based b-girl who won the 2022 Red Bull BC One Cypher USA in September, said there’s an accessibility to the art and sport of breaking that will make it a huge draw at the Paris Olympics. She hopes to earn a spot on the U.S. team.

    “We have a lot of diversity in breaking, which is really beautiful about what we do, because there aren’t many financial barriers to entry,” Choi told the AP. “If you have a clean floor and, nowadays, access to YouTube or something where you can learn, and some music, you can just do this on your own.”

    She said her nascent Olympic journey has already required personal and professional sacrifices that initially had her questioning if she wanted to compete at all.

    “I’m one of those all or nothing people,” Choi said. “I’ve done a lot of soul searching to remove some of the mental blocks. I feel like this journey is going to pull out a lot from me and I just need to be ready for that.”

    ————

    Aaron Morrison is a New York City-based national writer and member of the AP’s Race and Ethnicity team. Follow him on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/aaronlmorrison.

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  • Crowded fan zone turns thousands away before Qatar World Cup

    Crowded fan zone turns thousands away before Qatar World Cup

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    DOHA, Qatar — Authorities turned away thousands of fans Saturday night from a concert celebrating the World Cup beginning the next day in Qatar, showing the challenges ahead for Doha as it tries to manage crowds in FIFA’s most-compact tournament ever.

    Disappointed fans took being turned away largely in stride. Once away from the venue, Qatari police, security guards and others guided the thousands away with giant foam fingers, bullhorns and blinking traffic control wands.

    But the concert comes before the the 1.2 million fans expected for the tournament fully arrive in this nation on the Arabian Peninsula.

    And with Qatar deciding only Friday to ban beer sales from tournament stadiums, fan zones like the one on the corniche hosting the concert will be the only FIFA-associated area serving pints — meaning more fans could wind up there.

    “We know that what the police say here goes,” said a 30-year-old trucker from Mumbai, who declined to give his name for fear of reprisals. He and his friends had got a rare day off from Hamad Port to walk 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) to the fan zone before being turned away.

    “We’re sad to leave because it’s too early,” he added. “There’s nothing we can do.”

    Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, which oversees the World Cup, did not immediately respond to questions about the fan zone turning away crowds Saturday night.

    Qatar, home to 3 million people, will see its population swell as the tournament begins. Already, it has spent over $200 billion for improvements across this energy-rich country slightly larger than Jamaica.

    That includes a vast new underground metro system that can whisk fans from the airport to matches. It has even closed schools for the month and urged residents to work from home.

    But Associated Press journalists already have seen pinch points where a large number of people can be bunched together even before the tournament begins.

    In Doha’s Souq Waqif, a major tourist destination, a walkway between outdoor restaurants quickly filled shoulder to shoulder Friday night. Its nearby metro station saw long lines, with some pushing and shoving between orderlies and those taking the train.

    Saturday night, however, started much smoother as Friday is the mandatory day off for all workers in the country. Fewer people initially stood along the corniche as a massive fireworks show suddenly went off, illuminating its skyscraper skyline to awed passersby.

    Just after 8 p.m., however, crowds thronged the Fan Zone, hoping to attend a concert featuring Lebanese singer Myriam Fares and Columbian singer Maluma. But as hundreds stood inside a holding pen, thousands more were outside of the venue.

    At one exit, the crowd tried to argue their way inside, with a few spectators slipping past guards. At an entrance, one security guard with a bullhorn pleaded with the crowd: “For your safety, please go back!”

    Still, some stayed and waited, hoping for a chance to get in, like Ayman Awad, a geologist who flew to Qatar on Saturday from Sudan.

    “I won’t give up,” Awad said. “I hope it doesn’t stay this crowded.”

    Many foreign fans, aware of Qatar’s restrictions on free speech, were wary of criticizing the host country as they waited. A group of Saudi tourists who expressed disappointment at the situation to an AP journalist later retracted their quotes for fear of wading into “politics.”

    The Fan Zone at Al Bidda Park plans other major concerts as well during the tournament. But it has taken on new prominence after Friday’s decision to ban alcohol sales at stadiums: It will be one of the few places outside of hotel bars and private residences where fans can have a drink while partying in this conservative Islamic nation.

    On Saturday night, a quick set of calls to several bars in Doha’s West Bay, an area full of high-end hotels, found that all were fully booked the night before the tournament as the Fan Zone was shut. Yet the real test will begin from Sunday, as Ecuador faces Qatar in the opening match and the group stage follows behind — with the crowds to come.

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  • World Cup ambassador from Qatar denounces homosexuality

    World Cup ambassador from Qatar denounces homosexuality

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    BERLIN — An ambassador for the World Cup in Qatar has described homosexuality as a “damage in the mind” in an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF only two weeks before the opening of the soccer tournament in the Gulf state, highlighting concerns about the conservative country’s treatment of gays and lesbians.

    Former Qatari national team player Khalid Salman told a German reporter in an interview that being gay is “haram,” or forbidden in Arabic, and that he has a problem with children seeing gay people.

    Excerpts of the television interview were shown Monday on the ZDF news program Heute Journal. The full interview, which is part of a documentary, will be shown Tuesday on ZDF.

    About 1.2 million international visitors are expected in Qatar for the tournament, which has faced criticism and skepticism ever since the gas-rich emirate was selected as host by FIFA in December 2010. Concerns about LGBTQ tourists attending the World Cup have also been expressed for a long time.

    In the interview, Salman also said that homosexuality “is a spiritual harm.”

    “During the World Cup, many things will come here to the country. Let’s talk about gays,” Salman said in English, which is simultaneously dubbed into German in the TV segment. “The most important thing is, everybody will accept that they come here. But they will have to accept our rules.”

    The interview was cut short by a media officer of the World Cup organizing committee after Salman expressed his views on homosexuals, ZDF reported.

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    AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • African soccer still trying to fulfil promise at World Cup

    African soccer still trying to fulfil promise at World Cup

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    CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Henri Mouyebe slaps green, red and yellow paint on his bald head and big, bare belly before every Cameroon soccer game. He’s been transforming his hefty frame into a living, moving Cameroon flag for 40 years in support of his team.

    He will take his paint, and a huge dollop of hope, to this year’s World Cup in Qatar.

    “We are going there as conquerors, as winners, to play seven matches, play until the end of the tournament,” Mouyebe said, forecasting Cameroon will go all the way to the World Cup final.

    Eternal optimism.

    Sadly for Mouyebe, it’s most likely misguided given Cameroon’s recent World Cup record. The Indomitable Lions have won only one game at the last five World Cups they’ve played in and nothing suggests they’ll be walking out at Lusail Stadium on Dec. 18 to compete for soccer’s biggest prize.

    In an African context, Cameroon’s struggles are significant because it was the country, the team, that did shake the world of soccer 32 years ago by beating defending champion Argentina — a team that had Diego Maradona — on the way to the quarterfinals of the 1990 World Cup in Italy. Nearly the semifinals, but for an extra-time loss to England.

    Africa had arrived, everyone said. Pele declared an African triumph at the World Cup was imminent. Seven World Cups and more than 30 years later, no African team has gone any further than Cameroon did by reaching the quarterfinals. Cameroon hasn’t been anywhere near that again.

    “You have to be realistic,” former Tunisia coach Youssef Zouaoui said of Africa’s hopes of having a historic World Cup in Qatar with a semifinalist, or even better, this time. “The ambition is legitimate, but the reality on the ground is something else.”

    That reality for World Cup-bound Tunisia, Zouaoui said, is the country’s best players, driven by the economics of world soccer, play for European clubs, which often trumps their commitments to their country. The same economics have slowly drained Tunisia’s domestic soccer so that it is now in dire straits financially.

    How do you then build better stadiums, better leagues, better national teams to match the demands of a continent of 1.3 billion, where soccer runs deeper than any other sport?

    Those basic drawbacks can be applied to all five African teams going to this year’s World Cup — Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon, Morocco and Tunisia — even if they are unique teams that aren’t defined just by being African. It’s not just an African problem, nor is it new. Rich European clubs also draw players and focus from South America, Asia and elsewhere, and have done for years.

    But in Africa, the Confederation of African Football, the body that runs soccer on the continent, has been seen as the biggest failure of all.

    CAF hit a new low since the last World Cup when FIFA, the sport’s main governing body, sent its secretary general to run the African organization for six months in 2019, an unprecedented move to take over an independent continental confederation. It was necessary, FIFA said, because of the organizational and financial mess that CAF was in.

    FIFA didn’t stop there. Last year, FIFA president Gianni Infantino brokered a deal to ensure his favored candidate, South African mining billionaire Patrice Motsepe, was elected unopposed as the new president of CAF. Motsepe has been flanked by Infantino at almost every official function since.

    FIFA’s outsized influence in CAF over the last three years has prompted a new wave of criticism of a body that has been troubled for a lot longer, and surely does need saving. But Infantino’s interest, the critics say, is more likely Africa’s 54 votes, soccer’s second-largest continental voting bloc behind Europe, ahead of the FIFA presidential election next year in Rwanda.

    “Having 54 countries and one particular confederation at his beck and call just increases his leverage,” African soccer analyst Francis Gaitho said, also saving some blame for African soccer leaders who he believes are complicit.

    African soccer’s decision-making has now been “outsourced to Europe,” Gaitho said, just like its best talent.

    Amid the politics, CAF is nearly bankrupt, reported a $44.6 million net loss last year and somehow bungled a $1 billion, 10-year sponsorship deal in the early days of FIFA’s influence in 2019 that would have represented the biggest single investment in African soccer and might have gone some way to solving the myriad of problems.

    “There’s always a correlation between bad governance and the teams and results,” Gaitho warned. “I will tell people to manage their expectations and not expect too much from Africa.”

    Hope remains, mostly this time with Senegal, spearheaded by Sadio Mané and a team that has managed in recent years to rise above Africa’s issues.

    Elsewhere, they’re calling for help. Ghana held two separate days of national prayer, one for Christians and one for Muslims, last month for its team, which was also a much-celebrated quarterfinalist 12 years ago but will now be the lowest-ranked team at this year’s World Cup.

    At 67, Mouyebe is old enough to remember vividly his country’s magical run in 1990. Maybe it’s what has given him the energy to still paint his entire body, head to toe, for the last 20 years without seeing Cameroon win once at the World Cup.

    “The wish of all Africans is that performances like that of 1990 become normal,” said Jules Onana, who played on that Cameroon team at the 1990 World Cup. “Rather than being a feat without a future.”

    ———

    Associated Press writers Isifu Wirfengla in Yaounde, Cameroon, Francis Kokutse in Accra, Ghana, and Bouazza ben Bouazza in Tunis, Tunisia, contributed to this report.

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    AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • Mordecai’s 9 passing TDs send SMU past Houston 77-63

    Mordecai’s 9 passing TDs send SMU past Houston 77-63

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    DALLAS — Tanner Mordecai set school and American Athletic Conference records with nine touchdown passes — an NCAA-record tying seven coming in the first half — and SMU’s offense exploded for a 77-63 win over Houston on Saturday.

    As a point of reference, Houston’s men’s basketball team beat SMU’s 75-61 on Feb. 27.

    On the gridiron, their combined 140 points set the NCAA single-game scoring record for two teams in regulation. The previous record of 137 points was set when Pitt beat Syracuse 76-61 on November 26, 2016.

    SMU reached school records with 77 points in a game (which tied the AAC record), 11-total touchdowns, nine passing scored and 433 total yards in the first half.

    The Mustangs (5-4, 3-2 American Athletic Conference) scored touchdowns on their first nine drives of the game and didn’t punt until their 10th drive with 5:30 left before the end of the third quarter. Mordecai also had a 2-yard touchdown run with 8:43 before halftime for a 35-21 lead and his 10 total TDs set new single-game program and conference records.

    The Mustangs needed to keep their foot on the pedal because Houston quarterback Clayton Tune did his best to keep the Cougars (5-4, 3-2) in it, throwing for seven touchdowns and running for another.

    Tune joined David Klingler, Jimmy Klinger and Andre Ware in Houston’s seven-touchdowns-thrown-in-game club. David Klingler reached the mark on three occasions in the 1990 season and holds the all-time school record of 11 also in 1990.

    Tune missed touchdown number eight when he threw an interception in the end zone down 77-63 with 1:43 left. SMU secured three picks on Tune.

    Tyler Lavine’s 15-yard touchdown run with with 5:13 left made it 77-56 and he rushed for a career-high 146 yards.

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    More AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/AP—Top25. Sign up for the AP’s college football newsletter: https://apnews.com/cfbtop25

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  • NFL says Deshaun Watson status unchanged despite new lawsuit

    NFL says Deshaun Watson status unchanged despite new lawsuit

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    BEREA, Ohio — Suspended Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson’s status with the NFL has not been affected by a new civil lawsuit filed by another woman accusing him of sexual misconduct two years ago, the league said Friday.

    Watson is serving an 11-game suspension for alleged sexual misconduct while he played for the Houston Texans. Two dozen women previously alleged he was sexually inappropriate during massage therapy sessions.

    On Thursday, another woman filed a lawsuit in Texas that alleges Watson pressured her into performing a sex act after a massage in 2020. Watson has settled 23 of 24 previous lawsuits filed against him.

    NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the latest lawsuit does not impact Watson’s standing. The three-time Pro Bowler returned to the Browns’ training facility this week for the first time since his suspension began on Aug. 30.

    “We will monitor developments in the newly-filed litigation; and any conduct that warrants further investigation or possible additional sanctions would be addressed within the Personal Conduct Policy,” McCarthy said in an email.

    Watson is only permitted to attend meetings with the Browns and work out as he moves toward a possible return. He is not allowed to practice until Nov. 14, and as long as he fulfills conditions of his settlement with the league, he can return fully on Nov. 28 and would be eligible to play on Dec. 4 when the Browns visit the Texans.

    Watson agreed to the 11-game ban, a $5 million fine and to undergo treatment and counseling by an independent group.

    The Browns traded for Watson in March and signed him to a five-year, $240 million contract.

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    More AP NFL coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP—NFL

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  • FIFA reveals sites for World Cup fan viewing parties

    FIFA reveals sites for World Cup fan viewing parties

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    ZURICH — Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro and Dubai Harbour in the United Arab Emirates are among six locations worldwide that stage fan festivals during the World Cup in Qatar.

    Mexico City’s Plaza de la República, Sao Paulo’s Anhangabaú Valley, and downtown nightclub venues in London and Seoul, South Korea, also will host official game viewing parties and music events.

    Organizers have also hired electronic music events from Saudi Arabia and England to perform during the tournament.

    The events will “only be open to consumers of legal drinking age” at the venues co-organized by FIFA and long-time World Cup sponsor AB InBev, which brews the Budweiser, Corona and Brahma brands.

    Entry to some events will be free and some will have an entry charge, FIFA said in a statement on Monday.

    FIFA also revealed more details of music events planned in Qatar during the Nov. 20-Dec.18 tournament.

    The electronic music festival Aravia, run by a Saudi Arabian events organizer, will be staged at a 5,500-capacity site at Al Wakrah.

    The Arcadia Spectacular event, staging DJs beneath a fire-breathing, giant metal spider structure, has been a feature of the storied Glastonbury music and culture summer festival in England. It will be on a 15,000-capacity site at nearby Ras Bu Fontas, also close to Doha’s new international airport next to the Persian Gulf.

    Qatari World Cup officials and the music promoters have not detailed ticket prices for their World Cup shows.

    The main fan festival site for watching the 64 tournament games is at Al Bidda Park on the southern tip of the Corniche waterfront.

    Qatar has relaxed some restrictions on where and when alcohol can be consumed in the emirate so that AB InBev beers can be sold at official fan parties and game viewing areas.

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    AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • NFL’s concussion protocol modified after Tagovailoa review

    NFL’s concussion protocol modified after Tagovailoa review

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    MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The NFL and NFL Players Association agreed to modify the league’s concussion protocol following a joint investigation into the league’s procedures after Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered an injury against the Buffalo Bills last month.

    The league and players’ union said in a joint statement Saturday that the Dolphins followed the league’s protocol after the injury, but the outcome of the Tagovailoa case “was not what was intended when the Protocol was drafted.” As a result, language addressing abnormality of balance/stability was added to the league’s protocol list of symptoms that would keep a player from returning to action.

    In the first half of the Sept. 25 game against Buffalo, Tagovailoa took a hit from Bills linebacker Matt Milano, which caused him to slam to the ground. He appeared disoriented afterward and stumbled as he tried to get to his feet.

    Tagovailoa was immediately taken to the locker room and taken through the NFL’s concussion protocol, after which he was cleared of any head injury. He started the third quarter, drawing criticism from viewers about why he was allowed to return to the game.

    The NFL and NFLPA said they reviewed video and jointly interviewed members of the Dolphins’ medical staff, the head athletic trainer, the Booth ATC Spotter, the Unaffiliated Neurotrauma Consultant and Tagovailoa.

    They found that Tagovailoa did not show any signs or symptoms of a concussion during his locker room exam, during the rest of the game, or throughout the following week. But immediately after he took the hit from Milano, gross motor instability was present.

    After the game, Tagovailoa and Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said the quarterback had suffered a back injury earlier in the game on a quarterback sneak.

    The review said Tagovailoa told the medical staff that he aggravated his back injury on the play in question and that his back injury caused him to stumble. It also said the medical staff determined that the gross motor instability was not due to a concussion.

    In their statement Saturday, the NFL and players’ union said there was not examination of the QB’s back during the concussion examination, but that they “instead relied on the earlier examination conducted by other members of the medical staff.” The conclusion then was that the back injury was the cause of Tagovailoa’s instability.

    As a result of the joint investigation, the league and union agreed to change the league’s concussion protocol to include the term “ataxia.” In the statement, they defined ataxia as “abnormality of balance/stability, motor coordination or dysfunctional speech caused by a neurological issue.”

    Ataxia replaced the term “gross motor instability” and has been added to the list of symptoms that would prohibit a player from returning to the game. The others are confusion, amnesia and loss of consciousness.

    “The Protocol exists to establish a high standard of concussion care for each player,” the league and union’s statement said, “whereby every medical professional engages in a meaningful and rigorous examination of the player-patent. To that end, the parties remain committed to continuing to evaluate our Protocol to ensure it reflects the intended conservative approach to evaluating player-patients for potential head injuries.”

    On Oct. 1, the union fired the Unaffiliated Neurotrauma Consultant who handled Tagovailoa’s situation during the game.

    Jeff Miller, the NFL’s executive vice president overseeing health and safety, said in a virtual news conference Saturday that he believes this is the first time a UNC has been fired, and that the NFL did not support the decision to fire him.

    Less than a week after the injury, Tagovailoa started against the Cincinnati Bengals in a Thursday night game. He suffered a concussion in the first half after taking a hard sack, and displayed the fencing response after the scary hit. He was stretchered off the field and immediately taken to the hospital. He remains in the concussion protocol and will miss Sunday’s game against the Jets.

    Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s Chief Medical Officer, said that under the league’s amended protocol, Tagovailoa would have been diagnosed with a concussion on Sept. 25 under the ataxia term, thus making him ineligible to come back into that game.

    Sills said there’s no exact timetable for return for a player diagnosed with a concussion, but it would be “extremely unlikely” for a player diagnosed with ataxia to be able to play on Thursday night. The median time out with a concussion is nine days, he added.

    Sills also alluded to how difficult it is to definitively diagnose concussions. He mentioned that blood and saliva tests could help make concussion examinations more accurate.

    Commissioner Roger Goodell said at a fan forum in London Saturday that the NFL will make a “change or two” to its concussion protocol.

    McDaniel, asked repeatedly in the days following the incident about the decision to allow Tagovailoa to return, emphasized his confidence in the team’s handling of the situation.

    “This is a player-friendly organization that I make it very clear from the onset,” McDaniel said last week, “that my job as a coach is here for the players. I take that very serious, and no one else in the building strays from that.”

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    More AP NFL coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP—NFL

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  • FIFA won’t sanction Indonesia over fatal crush, Widodo says

    FIFA won’t sanction Indonesia over fatal crush, Widodo says

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    JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s president said the country will not face sanctions from soccer’s world governing body after the firing of tear gas inside a half-locked stadium caused a crush at the exits, killing 131 people, including 17 children.

    Joko Widodo said FIFA President Giani Infantino wrote in a letter to him about potential collaborations between Indonesia and FIFA and the country will remain the host of next year’s U-20 World Cup joined by 24 countries from five continents.

    “Based on the letter, thank God, Indonesian is not sanctioned by FIFA,” Widodo said in a video posted on the presidential office’s YouTube channel late Friday.

    In its security protocols, FIFA advises against the use of tear gas in or around stadiums and recommends exit gates be unlocked at all times during a game. While those rules are considered a safety standard, they don’t apply to domestic or national leagues and FIFA has no authority over how local governments and police control crowds.

    Widodo toured the Kanjuruhan soccer stadium in Malang city on Wednesday and said several locked gates had contributed to the disaster that followed a league game between host Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya on Oct. 1. The national police chief on Thursday said the stadium did not have a proper operating certificate and criminal charges would be brought against six people, including three police officers.

    Indonesia’s national soccer association, known locally as PSSI, has long struggled to manage the game domestically.

    Gaining the right to host next year’s Under-20 World Cup was a major milestone in Indonesia’s soccer development, raising hopes that a successful tournament would turn around longstanding problems that have blighted the sport in the nation, home to more than 277 million people.

    The deadly crush at is a tragic reminder, however, that Indonesia is one of the most dangerous countries in which to attend a game.

    Since last week, the domestic league has been suspended. Widodo has ordered the sports minister, the national police chief and the soccer federation to conduct a thorough investigation into the deadly stadium crush.

    He said on Friday that Indonesian government has agreed to take collaborative measures with FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation to improve stadium safety to prevent another tragedy.

    “FIFA, together with the government will set a transformation team for Indonesian ,” Widodo said, adding that Infantino would also to visit Indonesia in the near future.

    He said that FIFA will be based in Indonesia during these processes to improve safety standards at all football stadiums across the country, formulate security procedures and protocols for the police based on international standards, take feedback from Indonesian football clubs and fans, regulate season calendar under risk-based considerations as well as to involve experts from various fields for advice.

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  • Soccer’s worst disasters: Same mistakes by police, fans die

    Soccer’s worst disasters: Same mistakes by police, fans die

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    Police fire tear gas into a crowd of soccer fans, who panic and rush for the exits. There are so many trying to escape and some of the gates are locked. The stadium becomes a death trap.

    People are trampled in the desperation. Others suffocate, crushed by the weight of bodies around them.

    They are the details of last weekend’s soccer game in Malang, Indonesia, where 131 people, some of them children, died in a crush after police fired tear gas at fans of home team Arema FC. It’s also the story of the Estadio Nacional disaster in Lima, Peru, in 1964, when 328 died in a panic sparked by tear gas. It was the same in Accra, Ghana, in 2001, when 126 died.

    Soccer’s three worst stadium tragedies occurred over a 60-year span but are so strikingly similar that its clear lessons haven’t been learned.

    The world’s most popular game has historic problems of hooliganism, and Indonesia has its share of team rivalries that have led to violence. But Arema had the only fans in the stadium. Just them and the police.

    “Not a single rival supporter. How can that match kill more than 100 people?” said a sobbing Gilang Widya Pramana, the president of Arema.

    The blame has landed at the feet of the police, like it did in Lima, and Accra, and elsewhere.

    Some Arema supporters rushed the field in anger at their team’s loss. Yet, major soccer tragedies have almost always been caused, experts say, by a heavy-handed overreaction by police and poor stadium safety. Firing tear gas in enclosed stadiums is universally condemned by security experts. Locking exits goes against all safety regulations.

    “Actually, fans killing other fans is an incredibly rare thing,” said Prof. Geoff Pearson of the University of Manchester, an expert on the policing of soccer fans. “When we look at pretty much all the major (soccer) tragedies, I can’t think of an exception off the top of my head, all of these have been caused by unsafe stadiums or practices, or inappropriate policing.”

    Indonesia, a country of 273 million, is due to host next year’s Under-20 World Cup. It is soccer’s “sleeping giant,” said James Montague, a journalist and author who traveled there to watch games with fans.

    Montague found a passion for soccer that matches, even outstrips, the game’s leading countries. He said he also found “largely decrepit” stadiums, corruption and mismanagement everywhere and the kind of police that would “smash me in the face with a baton just because I’m standing there watching a football match.”

    Soccer was believed to have reached a turning point 33 years ago with the Hillsborough disaster, where 97 Liverpool fans died as a result of a crush at a stadium in Sheffield, England, in 1989. Police were eventually found to have been to blame for letting fans into an already overcrowded section but it took 27 years before the police’s lies and coverups — blaming drunken fans for the deaths — were fully exposed.

    Hillsborough led to sweeping reforms in English soccer, making stadiums safer and demanding police change.

    That echoes in Indonesia this week. So do calls for justice. Indonesian authorities have laid charges against six people for the crush, three of them police officers.

    But a lack of ultimate accountability — “the state closes ranks,” Montague said — has also been a repeat feature.

    A BBC report on the 50th anniversary of the Lima disaster found that only one police officer had been sentenced for soccer’s deadliest stadium tragedy, getting 30 months in prison. More than 30 years after Hillsborough, one official has been convicted of a safety offense and fined. Police were acquitted after Africa’s worst sports disaster in Accra despite an inquiry that blamed them for the reckless firing of tear gas and rubber bullets.

    Soccer authorities stand helpless. FIFA, the governing body of world soccer based in Switzerland, has recommendations that tear gas should never be used in stadiums. But soccer bodies can’t dictate the tactics used by a country’s security forces, even if it’s at a soccer game.

    “It is all down to the organized culture of the police,” said Ronan Evain, executive director of Football Supporters Europe, a group that represents fans’ interests.

    Soccer’s inability to interfere in domestic security matters is underlined by the situation in Egypt, where a 2012 stadium riot that killed 74 people came amid a decade of harsh crackdowns on fans by security forces. Dozens of fans have been killed in encounters with police at and away from games, and some fan groups were declared terrorist organizations because they were critical of the Egyptian government, which has been widely accused of human rights violations.

    The African soccer body is even based in Cairo but has no authority to intervene.

    It’s the police, Pearson said, who have to be “willing to admit their mistakes and learn from their mistakes.” But that kind of institutional change is grudging.

    Hillsborough did bring effective reform for England, but it stands almost alone. Lessons were lost after Lima and Accra, and the same can happen again after Indonesia.

    Only days after last weekend’s tragedy, police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at soccer fans outside a stadium in Argentina and one person died in the chaos.

    George Lawson worked at the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation when he raced to the unfolding tragedy at Ohene Djan Stadium in Accra 21 years ago. He remembered being stunned by the sight of dozens of bodies lying on the ground. He recalled his country coming to a standstill.

    But while an inquiry demanded the stadium be totally upgraded, the only lasting change has been a bronze statue erected outside as a memorial, with the inscription: “I am my brother’s keeper.”

    “When things happen like this, there’s a hullabaloo,” Lawson said. “And after some time people forget about it.”

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    AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed to this report.

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    AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • Indonesia police chief, others removed over soccer disaster

    Indonesia police chief, others removed over soccer disaster

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    MALANG, Indonesia — An Indonesian police chief and nine elite officers were removed from their posts Monday and 18 others were being investigated for responsibility in the firing of tear gas inside a soccer stadium that set off a stampede, killing at least 125 people, officials said.

    Distraught family members were struggling to comprehend the loss of their loved ones, including 17 children, at the match in East Java’s Malang city that was attended only by hometown Arema FC fans. The organizer had banned supporters of the visiting team, Persebaya Surabaya, because of Indonesia’s history of violent soccer rivalries.

    The disaster Saturday night was among the deadliest ever at a sporting event.

    Arema players and officials laid wreaths Monday in front of the stadium.

    “We came here as a team asking forgiveness from the families impacted by this tragedy, those who lost their loves ones or the ones still being treated in the hospital,” head coach Javier Roca said.

    On Monday night, about a thousand soccer fans dressed in black shirts held a candlelight vigil at a soccer stadium in Jakarta’s satellite city of Bekasi to pray for the victims of the disaster.

    Witnesses said some of the 42,000 Arema fans ran onto the pitch in anger on Saturday after the team was defeated 3-2, its first loss at home against Persebaya in 23 years. Some threw bottles and other objects at players and soccer officials. At least five police vehicles were toppled and set ablaze outside the stadium.

    But most of the deaths occurred when riot police, trying to stop the violence, fired tear gas, including in the stands, triggering a disastrous stampede of fans making a panicked, chaotic run for the exits. Most of the 125 people who died were trampled or suffocated. The victims included two police officers.

    At least 17 children were among the dead and seven were being treated in hospitals, the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection said. Police said 323 people were injured in the crush, with some still in critical condition.

    National Police spokesperson Dedy Prasetyo said Malang police chief Ferli Hidayat had been removed along with nine members of an elite police mobile brigade and face possible dismissal in a police ethics trial.

    He said 18 officers responsible for firing the tear gas, ranging from middle- to high-ranking, were being investigated.

    Police are questioning witnesses and analyzing video from 32 security cameras inside and outside the stadium and nine cellphones owned by the victims as part of an investigation that will also identify suspected vandals, he said.

    The parents and other relatives of Faiqotul Hikmah, 22, wailed Monday when an ambulance arrived at their home with her body wrapped in white cloth and a black blanket. She died while fleeing to exit 12 at Kanjuruhan Stadium.

    A dozen friends had traveled with her to see the match, but Hikmah was one of only four who were able to enter the stadium because tickets were sold out, her friend, Abdul Mukid, said Monday. He later bought a ticket from a broker after hearing of the chaos inside the stadium in order to search for Hikman.

    “I have to find her, save her,” Mukid recalled thinking.

    Mukid found Hikmah’s body laid at a building in the stadium compound, with broken ribs and bluish bruises on her face. He learned that a second friend had also died from other friends who called him while he was in an ambulance taking Hikmah’s body to a hospital.

    “I can’t put into words how much my sorrow is to lose my sister,” said Nur Laila, Hikmah’s older sibling. “She was just a big Arema fan who wanted to watch her favorite team play. She shouldn’t die just for that,” she said, wiping away tears.

    President Joko Widodo ordered the premier soccer league suspended until safety is reevaluated and security tightened. Indonesia’s soccer association also banned Arema from hosting soccer matches for the rest of the season.

    Arema FC President Gilang Widya Pramana expressed his sadness and deepest apologies to the victims and the Indonesian people, and said he is ready to take full responsibility for the tragedy at his team’s stadium.

    He said the management, coach and players were in shock and speechless.

    “I am ready to provide assistance, even though it will not be able to return the victims’ lives,” Pramana said at a news conference Monday at Arema’s headquarters in Malang.

    “This incident was beyond prediction, beyond reason … in a match watched only by our fans, not a single rival supporter,” he said, sobbing. “How can that match kill more than 100 people?”

    He said Arema FC is ready to accept any sanctions from Indonesia’s Soccer Association and the government, and “hopefully, it will be a very valuable lesson.”

    Security Minister Mohammad Mahfud said he will lead an inquiry that will examine law violations in the disaster and provide recommendations to the president to improve soccer safety. The investigation is to be completed in three weeks.

    Mahfud instructed the national police and military chiefs to punish those who committed crimes and actions that triggered the stampede.

    “The government urged the national police to evaluate their security procedures,” Mahfud said at a news conference.

    Rights group Amnesty International urged Indonesia to investigate the use of tear gas and ensure that those found responsible are tried in open court. While FIFA has no control over domestic games, it has advised against the use of tear gas at soccer stadiums.

    Despite Indonesia’s lack of international prominence in the sport, hooliganism is rife in the soccer-obsessed country where fanaticism often ends in violence. Data from Indonesia’s soccer watchdog, Save Our Soccer, showed 78 people have died in game-related incidents over the past 28 years.

    Saturday’s game was among the world’s worst crowd disasters in sports, including a 1996 World Cup qualifier between Guatemala and Costa Rica in Guatemala City in which over 80 died and over 100 more were injured. In April 2001, more than 40 people were crushed to death during a soccer match at Ellis Park in Johannesburg, South Africa.

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    Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.

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  • Stadium tragedy exposes Indonesia’s troubled soccer history

    Stadium tragedy exposes Indonesia’s troubled soccer history

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    SEOUL, South Korea — Gaining the right to host next year’s Under-20 World Cup was a major milestone in Indonesia’s soccer development, raising hopes that a successful tournament would turn around long-standing problems that have blighted the sport in this country of 277 million people.

    The death of at least 125 people at a league game between host Arema FC of East Java’s Malang city and Persebaya Surabaya on Saturday is a tragic reminder, however, that Indonesia is one of the most dangerous countries in which to attend a game.

    “Do remember that the FIFA U-20 World Cup will be the worldwide spotlight since the event will be joined by 24 countries from five continents,” Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo said last month as he pushed for thorough preparations for the tournament.

    Since Saturday, the domestic league has been suspended. Widodo has ordered the sports minister, the national police chief and the soccer federation to conduct a thorough investigation into the deadly stadium crush.

    Indonesia was the first Asian team ever to play at a World Cup — participating in 1938 as Dutch East Indies — but despite an undoubted national passion for the sport, it has never returned to the global stage because of years of corruption, violence and mismanagement.

    Data from Indonesia’s soccer watchdog, Save Our Soccer, showed 78 people have died in game-related incidents over the past 28 years.

    Those accused are often associated with supporter groups that attach themselves to clubs, with the biggest boasting hundreds of thousands of members.

    Arema intense rivalry with Surabaya meant that no visiting fans were allowed in the stadium on the weekend. Yet violence broke out when the home team lost 3-2 and some of the 42,000 Arema fans, known as “Aremania,” threw bottles and other objects at players and soccer officials.

    Restrictions on visiting fans also have failed in the past. In 2016, despite Persib Bandung supporters being banned from a game with bitter rival Persija Jakarta, they were blamed for the death of a Jakarta supporter.

    A month earlier, a Persib fan had been beaten to death by Jakarta followers.

    In 2018, local media reported a seventh death in six years related to Indonesia’s biggest soccer rivalry.

    Soccer fans have accused security officials of being heavy-handed in the past and on the weekend, with witnesses describing officers beating them with sticks and shields before shooting tear gas canisters directly into the crowds. In 2016, police were accused of killing 16-year-old supporter Muhammad Fahreza at a game between Persija and Persela Lamongan, resulting in mass demonstrations demanding an end to police brutality.

    “The police who were in charge of security violated FIFA stadium safety and security regulations,” soccer analyst Akmal Marhali told Indonesian media on Sunday, referring to the use of tear gas on Malang fans who entered the pitch after their team’s defeat. That sparked a rush for exits in an overcrowded stadium.

    “The Indonesia Football Association may have been negligent for not informing the police that security procedures at a football match are not the same as those at a demonstration.”

    FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, prohibits the use of tear gas by on-field security or police at stadiums.

    Usman Hamid, executive director of Amnesty International Indonesia, said police who violated regulations should be tried in open court.

    “This loss of life cannot go unanswered. The police themselves have stated that the deaths occurred after police use of tear gas on the crowd resulted in a stampede at the stadium exits,” Hamid said in a statement. “Tear gas should also never be fired in confined spaces.”

    The soccer association, known locally as PSSI, has long struggled to manage the game domestically.

    In 2007, Nurdin Halid was imprisoned on corruption charges but was able to continue as the organization’s president until 2011. After Halid was banned from running for another term, a rival league, federation and national team emerged.

    But chaotic administration continued until FIFA suspended Indonesia in 2015, a sanction that was lifted the following year.

    In 2019, when FIFA awarded Indonesia hosting rights for the Under-20 World Cup, it was seen as a vote of confidence.

    In June, a FIFA panel inspected the country’s soccer facilities and planning for the May 20-June 11 tournament and proclaimed its satisfaction.

    “We are very pleased to see the preparations in Indonesia,” Roberto Grassi, Head of Youth Tournaments for FIFA said. “A lot of refurbishment work has been done already. We have had an encouraging visit and are confident of support from all stakeholders involved.”

    Kanjuruhan Stadium, the site of the disaster on Saturday, is not among the six venues listed for the Under-20 World Cup, although nearby Surabaya Stadium is scheduled to host games.

    FIFA has not yet commented on any potential impact on the Under-20 World Cup but the weekend tragedy is likely to damage Indonesia’s bid to host the 2023 Asian Cup. It is vying with South Korea and Qatar to become host of the continental championship after China relinquished its staging rights in May.

    Indonesia has already co-hosted the tournament, sharing the event in 2007 with Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam and hosting the final in Jakarta, where Iraq beat Saudi Arabia for the title.

    That was the last time Indonesia staged a major international soccer tournament. The Asian Football Confederation is expected to announce its decision on the 2023 tournament on Oct. 17.

    There is unlikely to be any soccer played before then as people in Indonesia, and football followers around the globe, come to terms with one of the deadliest disasters ever at a sporting event.

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    Duerden covers soccer in Asia for The Associated Press.

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    More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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